Michael Leask and MS Dhoni - (Source: AFP)
The inaugural edition of ETPL commences on August 26, and the league is set to feature some big names, including Scotland’s Michael Leask. After 13 years of international cricket and 178 appearances for Scotland, the star all-rounder is all set for franchise cricket.
The dream of Europe and associate nations having their T20 league is finally turning into a reality, and eyes are on Michael Leask to take the league by storm as he will represent Glasgow Cosmic.
Ahead of a busy summer, CREX, in partnership with Glasgow Cosmic, spoke to Michael Leask, where he opened up on his journey, IPL plans, and also the great man MS Dhoni. Here’s how the conversation went.
Michael Leask Interview - Scotland Cricket’s Future, ETPL Plans, IPL Favourite and Inspiration from MS Dhoni
Q.1: You are with Glasgow Cosmic. Matthew Hayden is the head coach. So how does it feel to be under the wings of such a legend?
Yeah, I mean, when I saw the names that were coming out with head coaches, some very big ones and none bigger than Matthew Hayden. He's a legend of the game, really. Played and revolutionised the way the Australians played the game, played bold, played hard, I guess and struck the ball as clean as anyone in the world at that time.
He was probably ahead of his era really. If you think of white-ball cricket at that point, the way that he and others took on the game was just incredible. But also the way he moved in the field, he was also a very good mover.
I think working alongside him is going to be incredible really. Just to get to pick his brains and also just the aura of the man as well. Having him as head coach is going to be pretty cool.
Question 2: ETPL is mostly dominated by players from associate nations. So how do you view this league, and how is it different from other leagues around the world?
Yeah, it is. It's obviously the first one to come to Europe, which is really important for cricket in Europe. You'll see there's quite a few Italians that have been picked up alongside the 16 Scots, 16 Dutch and 16 Irish.
Having these other associates involved in this tournament is so key to the longevity of the associate game. And obviously with Ireland, their full member status now as well, all it's going to do is continually grow the game in Europe.
For me, it's such an important step forward, this ETPL, because you've seen what's happened to the USA as soon as they've had their major league. You've seen what's happened in Nepal.
Their players are starting to just develop so quickly, having had the league on for two or three years now. For Europe, it's going to be huge. It's basically going to give players in Scotland, Ireland, Holland and others across Europe just such an opportunity to go and further their career and develop.
Question 3: We've seen it with Afghanistan that IPL helped their team do wonders. We saw it in the T20 World Cup as well. Do you think that ETPL will also be a platform where players will seek IPL contracts?
Yeah, look. The IPL is the pinnacle of T20 tournaments, right? I think anyone in their right mind would want to try and get selected. Obviously, it's going to be a stepping stone for that. But I think the ETPL holds its own status at the moment, obviously, with it being its first edition.
It gives players such an opportunity to just put themselves out there. Players that some might not have heard of and players that have been around for quite a long time but just haven't been given the recognition. And for me, it's basic. People are going to see how good associate cricket/ the players from Holland, Scotland, Ireland and all the other associate nations can be.
Because as you say, it's the majority is associate nations alongside a very, very good crop of international cricketers. But they're going to see how good a standard that tournament is going to be.
And if it leads to players getting picked up in tournaments like the IPL, like others. You've got owners and players from the IPL past. It's going to be a shop window for guys as well. And if they do well, the world's your oyster, really, as you say.
Question 4: Your interest in the IPL and if there's any favourite team that you would like to join?
Me? Goodness. I'm a lover of cricket, so I've watched all cricket. I watch anything, really. For a team, it would be very difficult to pinpoint a team I did enjoy. I do enjoy watching the way Sunrisers go about their business. It's more of a crash-bang wallop, isn't it? It's high scoring, but also when they've just got such good operators. They're just classy, aren't they?
I mean, it's a struggle to go past all the IPL, really. It's such an exciting tournament that it just throws anything at you. Teams are never out of the game, especially with the impact player that they've got as well. Teams are just never out of it. If they're one batter short, you've got a batter on the sidelines. You've seen players doing incredible things.
Anyone who can get themselves in the IPL from any country, it just shows how well they're doing at that current time. I think in time, there will be associate cricketers or cricketers from other nations breaching the IPL. I think it's not going to be far away.
Question 5: Any Star In The Making We Should Keep An Eye On During ETPL 2026?
Players that I think are going to do well. I'm going to go with a few of the Glasgow Cosmic to start off with. Someone like Brad Currie. For me, he's such a classy operator. He's done it for Scotland for so many years now. Even in the World Cup T20 that's just been passed, players very rarely got a hold of him too much.
Even when we had the likes of the Aussies come across to Scotland a couple of years ago, he was absolutely phenomenal with the new ball.
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Other players from other teams. I'm really delighted that the other 16 Scots players are able to get their name out there. Anyone of the 16 really could go and put themselves up on that pedestal and show how good they are.
Question 6: Scotland didn't have a great T20 World Cup but you had an amazing tournament. You picked up 9 wickets. What were the preparations like and how did you motivate the team to do well?
It's a bit of a tricky one. We obviously had about 4 days to prep for it. We were in our preparation for our summer. We expected our first to be April. We had about 4 days' notice. Some guys hadn't picked up their bat yet. It was all just physical prep. Some guys hadn't done much. Some had been away, luckily, to the likes of the Nepal League. Some had been playing.
We were so close in a lot of that. In every single game, I think we were in it for 80-90% against every single opposition. Given how little prep we had, it was really good from the guys. But again, we fell short.
For me, personally, I had a lot of fun out in India. I've played out there a few times. Just to see the level of crowd, the level of passion there was. Just even to have Scotland there. It was incredible. I love playing at Eden Gardens. It's such an iconic stadium.
Especially when we play against the likes of England and West Indies. The crowd were definitely on Scotland's side. Which is quite cool when you've got that many people there just supporting you.
It does add 5-10% to your own personal level. I had a pretty good tournament. I thought I bowled pretty well. Just not to be for the team. But on a personal level, I was really happy.
Question 7: You talked about how difficult it was for the group. Because it was such short notice. How difficult was it for you specifically?
Within two days of being told that visas needed to be sorted, visas got sorted and we were straight out to India. I think we landed in Bangalore at the High Performance Centre. We were there for maybe four days. We played two warm-up games and had three training sessions before the T20 World Cup 2026 started for us. It was quite a short turnaround.
We played Afghanistan. They're a wonderful side at the moment. They're packed full of talent. We also played Namibia, who really put us under the pump and gave us two really good warm-up games. Leading into what is a massive World Cup. I thought the way we handled the prep and things like that was brilliant.
There was no moaning. It was like we've been given an opportunity here, and we can go and grab it with both hands. Players individually stepped up at certain times. There was some brilliant batting.
I think it just showed that we weren't quite match-ready with a few aspects like death-bowling and death-batting, which is always going to be difficult when you haven't had the level of training or level of playing that you would be expected to have coming into a major event.
You'd probably played a few more games. You'd have trained a bit more. But that's no excuse. We're experienced cricketers, and we were there for a reason. It was a short turnaround. I'll say that for it.
Question 8: How are the preparations going on for the next World Cup?
It's 2028, the next edition of the T20. We've got a bit of time before that kicks in. We'll probably start looking towards that next year, I would suppose.
All of it's just geared up for the ETPL at the moment. All hands on deck for that. Trying to get in the gym, stay fit, bowl, bat. I'm really looking forward to joining up with the guys in a couple of weeks.
Question 9: You are very passionate about the sport, and you previously mentioned that you wear your heart on your sleeve. How do you keep yourself motivated and Where do you see Scotland cricket in the next few years?
I find it very easy to motivate myself. It's something I've done for so many years. The moment that passion dwindles will be when I put my boots on the shelf. I just love doing what I do for Scotland. I've always been passionate. I find it very easy because it's such a great thing for me to do.
My family have followed me for years with it. I've played with guys for a number of years now. I think it's coming up to 14 years since I made my debut. It's amazing. I see the ETPL taking Scottish cricket forward a lot.
It's going to give 16 Scots an opportunity every year. You'll get to know pretty quickly who's going to make it out of those 16. For me, it's an unbelievable opportunity for every single one. I think it's just going to keep making Scottish cricket, Irish cricket and Dutch cricket better. The more opportunities we get to do that and take it into the world stage for our national sides, the better.
Question 10: You've expressed your admiration for MS Dhoni in the past. You said you want to pick up on his mentality. How does MS Dhoni inspire you?
Just the way MS Dhoni holds his nerve no matter what the occasion. Even if he's the one there when they need 24 to win in a final over. Even if it's 24, even if it's 50 off of five overs. He'll be the one just to make sure that he knows what he's doing. He'll be the one in control. He looks so cool, calm and collected when he does it.
I may not have the cool, calm and collected nature, but I just like the way that you always look in admiration of how he goes about it. He knows how he wants to break down a run chase. That, for me, is something that's so important within the world game.
I just feel that there's such a lack of players who can do what he did. He just made it look so simple, even though it's such a tough skill to get right.
Question 11: You are 35, and you're putting it all on the line for your nation. You have the third most appearances for Scotland across all formats. You've seen the sport grow over the years. How do you feel it has changed? The idea of expansion in T20 World Cups and more teams coming in. Where do you see cricket going in the next few years?
I think it's got to grow. I've seen it grow from being a handful of contracts before my time, when I was first starting, to now having a lot more professional set-up. We've now got full-time everything across the board to make sure we're getting everything we need. It's only going to keep getting better the more and more opportunity that we get.
I think it should be ODI and T20 that get given the opportunities, not just T20. For me, the game should grow full stop. You've seen at World Cups how there's been upsets from everyone.
There's been Nepal pushing England to the brink in the last one. India getting pushed by Holland until there was an unbelievable innings by one of the players Surya Kumar pulled them out of the line in that one.
It just shows that if you give these nations a chance at bigger events, more often you'll see it will not become a shock to teams that they will continually win games. You need opportunity to do that. This is one stepping stone.
The T20 World Cup just passed. You've seen that the USA managed to automatically qualify because of the way they played in the last one. It won't become a surprise. It's not a surprise to me because I know how good associate cricket is, having played it for 14 years.
There are so many wonderful, wonderful cricketers that just need an opportunity to show up. That's what the global World Cups should be.
They shouldn't be looking to try and minimise it. They should be looking to maximise how many teams they can get into it. I honestly think you'll get so many wonderful players. You just saw Italy making their debut at the World Cup.
They played fantastically. They really played with passion and played really well. Just alongside a few other nations that were making their debut. I think the T20 is doing it the right way. I think we need more of that in ODI cricket as well.
Question 12: Would you like to coach in the future?
Yes, I've done my ECB Level 3. I did that in 2018. I'm a Level 3 certified coach already. There's still a good few years of cricket left in my body. My body's still fresh. I'd never count out the opportunity to coach. I did for a long time. I enjoy coaching the clubs at the moment. I do have a lot of passion for cricket and to give back for what I received.
I got so much help from a young age. To give back would be exactly what I'd want to do. If that's where it takes me after cricket, then I would honestly do it with open arms. It just depends on what opportunities there are out there at the time.
I guess I'll play that by year when it comes. I've done all my coaching degrees. I've done up to Level 3 ECB. If that's where it takes me, then that'll be a wonderful move on.
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